


Can Ghosts Be Gay?

by BadWriter420



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But mostly fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Mary Keay's A+ Parenting, No beta we die like archival assistants, Not Really Character Death, i'm a dirty useless american, we will see where this goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWriter420/pseuds/BadWriter420
Summary: Micheal has been looking for it's bookburner for what seems like years, it can't really tell. One day it finds him but something has changed. Can Gerry and Micheal find a way to bring Gerry back? can Gerry help the archives stop Jonah Magnus? Will I only post a chapter and then disappear? Stay tuned Folks!
Relationships: Eric Delano & Gerard Keay, Gerard Keay & Gertrude Robinson, Gerard Keay & Other(s), Gerard Keay/Michael Shelley, Gerard Keay/Michael | The Distortion, Helen | The Distortion & Michael | The Distortion & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

It has been an amount of time since Gerry left. Micheal found time hard, sometimes it feels like it has been mourning for centuries, and other times it feels like it just left that cold hospital room. It never has been found of hospitals, even less so now. It ate the doctor who failed to save Gerry, it remembers how he screamed and screamed. It didn’t help, it just made it think about Gerry would scold him for eating a healthcare worker.  
Sometimes it feels something tug at his hallways, like Gerry is still there, asking for a way out. It doesn’t investigate, curiosity is the eye’s domain. It doesn’t want to hold onto hope, why should it? Gerry is dead and now it is just a monster alone. Gerry was still human, Micheal would tease him for that. It never understood why Gerry wanted to stay human, it only caused him pain. Being human is what killed Gerry and Micheal hated that. It wished it could’ve forced Gerry to become, to be safe from the end. But it knows that being human was important to Gerry, it was important to Eric too. It was strange, it remembered Eric and it remembered Mary but it never changed since then. Or maybe it changed too much, so much and so little time has passed since Micheal was not and then was.  
It felt the tug again, It was harder than before, like when Gerry would be running away from some avatar he pissed off too much. It felt like him. Him, Him, It was him. The improbability and complete distortion of the idea that Gerry could be alive is what caused Micheal to distort the hallways and throw open the door. It walked into a small damp room. It had a small wooden desk with a chair and a green lamp. The lamp was turned off. The rest of the room was bare with only a bed frame in the corner and one of the windows was boarded up. It looked around frantically but there was no Gerry, no bookburner. Just a large book bound with human skin. A Leitner.  
Micheal picked up the book and frowned, it didn’t know what it was but it definitely wasn’t it’s Gerry. Micheal put down the book and let out a sound like a metal fork in a microwave. It thought that it was a sigh, or maybe a sound of grief and disappointment. It jumped when it heard footsteps and someone fighting with the doorknob. It quickly went back into it’s hallways and watched from the door it left there.  
Two figures stormed into the room, an older man who looked like he washed once in the past 50 years and a young woman who dressed like one of those undercover cops from the bad movies that Gerry had liked. The man, Micheal knew as the Vampire hunter Grabbed the book with angry determination and flipped to the last page. Micheal then realized what had happened to his Gerry. The Vampire hunter started to read.  
“His consciousness faded in and out like the tide. He tried to refuse their drugs, though for what purpose even he could not have said. Perhaps he was simply trying to push away the smell of disinfectant and grief that rose from his hospital bed. She was there sometimes, the one he had followed around the world. There was almost sadness in her eyes.” Micheal knew what this was about. The fury almost making it throw open the door and kill the hunter’s itself. How dare she trap him like this, on the edge of the end, full of pain. “ He felt himself begin to slip, the icy certainty of what was happening seeping through his flesh, and as he fell away for the final time, he felt that all-consuming fear. And his only thought was to cry out for his mother. But with the last vestige of his stubborn will, he refused. She would not claim his last moment. He was silent.” The air in the room changed and a cloud started to form above the book. “And so Gerard Keay ended”. The man continued to speak, this time the anger in his voice was palpable, “ Gerard! Gerard! You fucking piece of shit! You told us that if we brought flashlights we could kill the monster no problem!”  
The Cloud above the book condensed and suddenly sitting on the table was Gerry, it’s Gerry. His form was merely an illusion and Micheal could see the wall behind him through his form. He was looking at his nails with a judging eye. It yearned to go and hold its bookburner but the hunters were on edge and it knew that if it left its door the could very well hurt Gerry. Gerry sighed long and hard and looked up at the older hunter.  
“I never said it would be “no problem”, I said it would make it so you could be less affected by the dark,” he spoke with a soft wispiness to his voice. The hunter only growled. The younger hunter sighed.  
“Trevor pay him no mind. He knows that the only way he will ever die is if he listens to us,” she let out a cruel laugh as she spoke and Micheal could feel its body sharpen. How DARE some insignificant hunter talk to the bookburner in such a way! A sudden wave of what might be called sadness rolled over it right after as it melt into its carpet. It had left Gerry with these people, it didn’t save him from this fate. It promised to always give him a door and protect him from the beings that tried to harm him. It couldn’t protect him from Gertrude and it left him here to rot without even knowing. The conversation behind its door got muddled and distorted through its own self-pity and when it did come to, the hunters were gone. Strangely, the book was not. Micheal grabbed the book and quickly went back through itself. If there was a chance that this book held the soul of its bookburner, it would never leave him to rot with a bunch of horrible hunters.


	2. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Micheal deals with the past and accepts the present

Micheal looked at the leather-bound book in its hands and let out what could be considered a sigh, though it sounded more like a high-speed car crash. It never did sentiments before, never cared before Micheal became Micheal and it thought that with Gerry gone it could go back to never caring but now it’s worse than ever. Its hatred for Gertrude was what fueled it after Gerry passed but soon she was gone as well and Micheal had nothing. 

For once there was no ritual, no revenge, no Love. Micheal had nothing to drive it. It held the book close to its chest. The book was heavy and old, the leather came from a cow but each of the pages were human. It looked over each page carefully and sit down on the ever-changing rug in its hallways. When it reached the last page it could touched it so gently, so scared that its hand would tear it. It was Gerry’s skin, so rough and near the edge, one of his myriad of eye tattoos. Micheal never liked the tattoos but Gerry did. He talked about when he got them.

_ “ I was 17,” he looked up at the distorted figure who was trying very hard to not turn the couch into fractals, “ and I snuck out. This wasn’t the first time but this time I had a mission. I had bought 2 fakes from the guy who used to ask me if my mother was single.” Micheal chuckled at that, its curls bouncing even though it didn’t even move. _

_ “The same one that tried to sell you a fake lightner when you were still small,” Micheal asked, it liked knowing things about Gerry. _

_ “The very same one!” Gerry gave Micheal a toothy grin before going back to his story,” So I took the fakes and found the worst shop I could if I was getting these, I was getting them done horribly. And I went back every two weeks a total of 4 times to get them all done. I could’ve done them all at once but” he shrugged,” apparently it's a “liability””. Gerry laughed at that and leaned on Micheal gently. “ How are you?” _

_ “You is a construct,” Micheal let out a sharp laugh but quiet enough that it wouldn't hurt Gerry, “but being well-fed and in food, company does bring up the mood” _

_ “Well-fed,” Gerry asked, raising an eyebrow. _

_ “Oh was that said, slip of the tongue. I meant to say that I would never ever consume something that enters my hallways, right dear?” Micheal laughed hard at its own statement and Gerry just rolled his eyes. _

Micheal frowned at that memory as it absentmindedly stroked the page that held Gerry’s final goodbye. Maybe if it took the book and read it, then it could talk to Gerry again. Micheal did not believe in hope but this book has brought something very close to hope to its damned soul. It wasn’t sure if it was ready yet, it has mourned and mourned and now it can get Gerry back? It’s a strange thing, but so are most things. It created a door in front of itself and opened it. The door opened to Gerry’s flat. It walked out and sat down on the couch and dust flew up in impossible patterns. When Gerry met his End it made sure that no one would enter the flat and continued to keep it safe. It made sure the dishes were washed and would lie down in Gerry’s bed clutching one of his dark clothes. This was different. It opened the book and put it on the coffee table, flipping to Gerry’s page. It wasn’t ready but if it’s book burner it couldn’t let him just sit there. So it read. 

His consciousness faded in and out like the tide. He tried to refuse their drugs, though for what purpose even he could not have said. Perhaps he was simply trying to push away the smell of disinfectant and grief that rose from his hospital bed. She was there sometimes, the one he had followed around the world. There was almost sadness in her eyes. He felt himself begin to slip, the icy certainty of what was happening seeping through his flesh, and as he fell away for the final time, he felt that all-consuming fear. And his only thought was to cry out for his mother. But with the last vestige of his stubborn will, he refused.  _ She _ would not claim his last moment. He was silent.” Once again the air chilled as a dark smoke rose from the book “And so Gerard Keay ended”. And as the words left its mouth it’s bookburner, it’s Gerry was there, sitting on the coffee table. 

“So this is new, what you decided to finally fucking move out of that gross cabin,” Gerry spoke with a voice full of disdain. All Micheal could do is stare as he looked around the room. “Wait a fucking minute. This is my flat,” the ghost stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, “Why the fuck did you two bring me to my flat and why hasn’t it changed?” He finally turned to meet the stare of the distortion and all anger, stress, and fear melted away. 

“ Hello Bookburner, isn’t it so strange that you are here, “ it said with a smile too wide

“Micheal,,, you took me here, you ARE here,” he responded with a smile that was just wide enough. He made his way over to Micheal and raised a hand, mimicking the cupping of its cheek. 

“ yes, you asked for a door my love, and hunters are especially stupid,” it chuckled and let Itself gets close to his hand without touching, “I love you Gerry, and I have mourned and missed you for such a long time and no time at all,” it looked into his eyes. 

“I missed you as well, spiral. You will keep me away from the van Helsing twins, right?” His eyes pleaded for safety, to be loved. 

“Any day my book burner, any day.”, it responded. It will keep what it has of its Gerry safe, no matter what. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y'all I am so sorry this took so long but you know, the holidays. I am currently taking a 4-week calculus intensive so bear with me.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the carpetgarden song "Can Ghosts be Gay"
> 
> Follow me on tiktok or twitter @He.Him.Claymaker


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